


It's a Date

by dianemaryallison



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Daisy the Matchmaker, F/M, domestic AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-07
Updated: 2018-02-07
Packaged: 2019-03-15 05:47:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13606836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dianemaryallison/pseuds/dianemaryallison
Summary: "Mum?" Daisy asked at dinner when they were alone. "You like Phil right?""Of course I like him he's my best friend.""No, I mean like like him." Daisy rolled her eyes much like her mum used to do."What do you mean?" Melinda narrowed her eyes at her daughter sensing trouble."You flirt with him. A lot.""No, I don’t.""Yeah totally…" Daisy snorted. "For what is worth he likes you too," she added after a long pause.





	It's a Date

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tessdebelle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tessdebelle/gifts).



> This was supposed to be a Secret Santa gift that I should have posted a month ago but I severely underestimated the university bureaucracy system in combination with finals and so here we are.  
> I'm sorry it took this long but I hope you enjoy it anyway.  
> Prompt: Tess (or Deke) assumed that Philinda were together  
> Great thank to my beta Kainka for her never-ending patience with me even when I'm impossible at times.

Moving to New York wasn’t sudden or unexpected. They’ve been talking about it with her mum for almost three years now, ever since Phil moved there to oversee the new brach of their security firm. Melinda stayed back in Chicago where they started all the years ago. Just a couple of friends from college trying to find their place in the world. And they did. Tony was in LA, Maria in Washington, Nick stayed in Chicago and Melinda with Daisy were now moving to New York and to Phil where they were especially successful. But when it finally came down to it Daisy was nervous.

They parked in front of the main building and Daisy saw her mum turn to her from the corner of her eye but she didn’t look back at her.

“Hey, it’s gonna be fine,” she felt the squeeze of encouragement as her mother touched her arm and Daisy could hear the smile in her voice as she was trying to give her all the support she could. It didn’t help much and it wasn’t enough to make Daisy want to get out of the car either.

Daisy, knowing her mum was trying her best to cheer her up, finally looked back at her. She attempted to pretend she’s fine but Melinda could always see right trough her tight lipped smile. 

“Look, I know it seems scary now, but everything’s going to be alright.”

“I know… I just," Daisy sighed, "It’s not like I'll miss Chicago but at least I knew the people there.”

“You didn’t always. Remember the first day of school? You begged me not to leave you there and when I came to pick you up later that day you didn’t want to leave.” Her mum smiled fondly at the memory and Daisy couldn’t help but chuckle. 

“Yeah, I guess.”

“So what are you still doing sitting here,” Melinda nudged her arm grinning. “Go, _go_! _"_

“Alright, alright I’m going,” Daisy laughed. “No need to kick me out.” She stepped out of the car, took a deep breath and closed the door. She could do this. With one last wave to her mum Daisy set off to find her orientation buddy.

After a quick tour she was brought to her science class. Introducing herself while the whole class stared at her was a nightmare as expected. She was infinitely glad when the teacher let her off and showed her to a free spot near the back of the room. A brunette girl in cardigan and lab glasses already perched on her nose smiled at her widely as Daisy neared.

"Hi! I'm Jemma. It's nice to meet you." She spoke before Daisy even put her bag down.

"Hi," Daisy smiled still a little self-conscious from all the eyes following her curiously. "Nice to meet you too. I guess I’m your lab partner?"

“Yes, you are," Jemma’s smile widened which Daisy honestly didn’t think was even possible. 

Daisy didn't get a chance to respond as the teacher silenced the chatter to start the class. Jemma, Daisy learned quickly, was a science geek. She didn’t seem to have the slightest trouble with the subject, answering all of the teacher’s questions, often raising her hand before the teacher even finished the question. Meanwhile, Daisy was a bit lost. Science wasn’t really her thing.

She was packing her things after class when Jemma perked up next to her as a curly haired boy approached their desk. "Hey Fitz!" 

"Daisy, this is Fitz," Jemma turned to her excitedly. "We usually work together but Mr. Banner decided we should rather work separately this semester due to a… minor accident last semester."

The boy opened his mouth but didn’t get to say a word before a short wavy haired girl came in behind him grinning at Jemma.

"A minor accident? You made the lab explode! Half the school was closed for weeks due to air contamination!"

"It wasn’t _that_ bad, Tess," Jemmadefended herself. "Stop exaggerating. Just a couple broken flasks." 

"They had to change the windows, Jemma." The girl crossed her arms over her chest and watched Jemma fidget with amusement then turned to Daisy. "Hey, I’m Tess, Fitz’ current lab partner to prevent any more damage to the building’s statics." She gave Jemma and Fitz a pointed look before extending her hand out to Daisy.

—

At the end of the week, Daisy could say moving and going to a new school wasn’t the worst thing ever. It turned out she had multiple classes with Tess and Fitzsimmons, as she found out they were called, and they introduced her to a couple more of their friends. Instead of sitting alone in a corner at lunch missing the people who weren’t really her friends she found a whole new group that took her in and were actually interested in her. It was pretty awesome albeit surprising.

"Hey. You free tonight?" Daisy was pulled from her thoughts by Tess. "I was thinking we could start with the research for the history project."

"Sure. It could be nice not having the deadline hanging over my head for once," Daisy grinned. "We could work at my house? Mum will be making dinner."

They met after lacrosse practise to head over to Daisy’s. Admittedly, Daisy was stunned she was accepted into the team even in the middle of semester but she was glad she got to continue playing. It was one of the things she was scared of when leaving Chicago but the team was very welcoming.

She opened the front door to have her senses struck by delicious smell coming from the kitchen.She poked her head around the corner to find it’s source.

"Hey kiddo," Phil smiled at her from the stove.

"Hey. Is that what I think it is?"

"Depends," Phil grinned slyly, "What do you think it is?"

"Lasagna?" Daisy tried her best puppy dog eyes.

"Bingo," he winked at her.

Daisy turned to Tess coming up behind her. "Tess," she looked her dead in the eye, "that is the best lasagna you’ll ever taste." She heard Phil laugh behind her. "Oh, right. Tess this is Phil, Phil this is Tess. She’s my classmate and we have a history project we wanted to work on."

"Nice to meet you, Tess. Go on work then, I’ll call you when the dinner’s ready."

By the time Phil called them downstairs to eat, Melinda was home sitting perched on the counter while Phil was putting finishing touch to the food.

“Hi mum! Phil’s making lasagna!” Daisy ran excitedly to the kitchen practically bouncing. 

 “I know, Dais, I can see that,” Melinda chuckled. “Oh, hi there,” she greeted Tess curiously.

“Sorry, Tess - mum, mum - Tess.” Daisy gestured between them, momentarily tearing her gaze off the steaming pan on the table.

“They're working on a project for school,” Phil joined in. “And everything’s ready,” he added putting the plates on the table and gesturing them to sit down. 

“Bon Apetite,” Tess said politely but Daisy already had her mouth stuffed. 

—

"Daisy!" 

She stopped in her tracks and turned to spot Tess hurrying after her, weaving her way through the crowd of students in the hallway. Daisy stepped aside from the main stream of people up to a wall to wait for Tess to catch up with her.

"Hey," she greeted Tess once she reached her, gasping for air a little from her brief sprint. "What’s up?"

"So, Elena and a couple guys have been drafting plans and we wanna talk strategy tomorrow night at Bobbi’s. You coming?"

"Actually, I was meaning to talk to you about that. My mum’s gonna be out of town for the weekend for some conference or something and she’s leaving on Thursday already so she can’t drive me."

"Oh. Well, can't your dad take you?"

"My dad?"

"Yeah." Daisy kept staring at her blankly and made Tess squirm and look at her like she was crazy. "Erm, Phil? What’s that look for?"

Daisy paused to comprehend what Tess just said. "Phil isn't my dad, Tess."

"He isn’t? I mean— sorry. I thought— never mind. Anyway, can't your mum’s _boyfriend_ take you?"

Daisy opened her mouth to correct her again but closed it, frowning. "I’ll ask."

Tess clasped her hands together and started chatting about placement and game plan, all of which Daisy tuned out buried in thoughts. _Phil being her dad…_ He wasn’t, Daisy knew, but she could imagine it. Honestly, he kind of felt like one. She couldn’t remember time when it would be just her and her mum. Phil was always there cooking, helping her with homework, taking them on trips. He raised her almost as much as her mum. He was a better father than most kids could dream of. How has she never questioned her mum’s relationship with him? They were practically like a married couple. He even spent most nights at their house, albeit in the guest room, but still.

—

It turned out Phil couldn’t drive her either since he and Melinda were both going to the conference. Fortunately, Elena’s mum was happy to take her with them since, as she put it, she was driving there anyway. 

Despite the weekend being packed with matches and never ending work out, her mind still managed to be preoccupied by over-thinking Tess’ words. Even as they were driving back home on Sunday afternoon Daisy contemplated whether or not to confront her mum about her relationship with her _best friend._

"Thank you, Mrs. Rodrigues. Good night!" Daisy closed the car doors and headed for the front door. She dropped her bag as soon as she was inside and finally straightened her back. _She’ll have to learn how to pack lighter._ She followed the music coming from the living room to find her mum tapping on her iPad with her feet in Phil’s lap while he was reading a book, a blanket covering them both. 

Phil was anything but _just a friend_. Tess was so right they were a thing! How could she not see that before?

"Hey, honey. How was lacrosse camp?"

"Good. We won six out of eight matches and made the cut to state league. What about your conference? When did you come back?"

"About two hours ago. And it was awful." Melinda slumped even further into the couch.

"I don’t think we’ve been to anything so boring in… never?"

"Yeah."

"We’ve just had dinner but there some pasta left on the stove. It should be still warm."

"Thanks, Phil."

—

"Good morning, baby." Melinda greeted her daughter who was still half asleep despite it being almost eleven in the morning.

"Mornin’," Daisy mumbled back throwing herself onto the chair still only half aware of her surroundings. 

"When did you become such a nerd?" She asked as she accepted a cup of tea being set in front of her gratefully.

"Excuse me?" Melinda looked at her confused.

Daisy pointed at her shirt, "Captain America? Really? I thought Phil was the designated nerd around here."

"That’s—" Melinda frowned at the emblem on her chest, "that’s not my shirt."

"Must be Phil’s," Daisy grinned trying to hide it in her cup but her shining eyes peaked from through.

Melinda mock glared at her. "It must have gotten mixed up in my laundry somehow."

"I wonder how," Daisy whispered underneath her breath absent-mindedly. "I’m sure he won’t be missing it anyway, he’s got _so_ many of them," Daisy laughed and Melinda joined her. "Anyways, I wanted to ask if the girls could come over tonight for a movie night?”

"Daisy, tomorrow’s a school day."

"I know, I know, but we won't be late and we wanna watch Titanic so it's practically like studying." Melinda kept looking at her sceptically. 

"Please mummy!" She was batting her eyelashes looking like the cat from Puss in boots. Not that it usually worked on her mum but Daisy knew she was glad she found new friends here and so she might make an exception this time.

"Fine," Melinda sighed eventually. "But you’ll have all your homework done before they come and will be in bed by ten."

"You’re the best!" Daisy jumped up to squeeze her mum in a hug suddenly much more awake than when she came in the kitchen.

Daisy held her word and had everything, including all her chores, done by the times the girls arrived. Everyone brought snacks and junk food and yet they still ran out as they got to the middle of the movie.

Jemma paused the film as Daisy jumped of her bed collecting bowls and bottles to get them more treats and soda from the kitchen. Balancing all the kitchenware in her arms she descended carefully down the stairs heading for the kitchen but halted before entering the room. She watched her mom and Phil side by side, Phil tending to simmering pans on the stove while her mom was cutting veggies next to him, both laughing softly, shooting sideways glances at the other. 

Daisy moved backwards slowly, still captivated by the scene, she failed to notice a briefcase next to a chair and stumbled over it sending some of the cups falling to the ground. She immediately looked up to see if she was busted. Her mum would always chastised her for taking everything at once but Daisy would rather have her arms fall off then go twice, thank you very much. However, they seemed not to notice the clatter, being too absorbed in each other. Daisy made a little disgusted face; she may have wanted them to get them together but she definitely didn’t need to watch it happen. They could do without chips till the dinner, she decided turning on her heel and heading back to her room.

—

The next morning Daisy was determined to finally do something. It couldn’t go on like this forever. "Guys, I need help," Daisy sat down her tray fitting herself next to Jemma and looking seriously at everyone at the table. "I saw mum with Phil yesterday and I need them to finally get together." 

"Why?" Mack asked immediately. 

"Erm, cos they love each other?"

"So let them figure it out themselves."

"I tried that but they’re impossible and it’s never gonna happen that way so I need to help them a little."

"I think thats a seriously bad idea. It’s gonna blow up in your face, Dais."

"Pessimist." Daisy commented turning away from him and looking at the others. "You gonna help me or you all think I’m crazy too?"

"No, I think you’re right. They deserve to be happy but we have to be careful or Mack could be right and we could do more harm than good." Tess replied thoughtfully.

"Great, Tess is in, anybody else?" Daisy ignored the part about being careful. She’d go head on if needed.

"We’ll help." Jemma smiled at her.

"What?" Fitz turned to her in mix of confusion and displeasure. "I don’t wanna get mixed up in this, Jemma!" Fitz whined.

"It’s for love Fitz! How can you not want to fight for love?" Jemma shot him a supposed-to-be-deadly glare to make it clear he wouldn’t get a chance to chicken out of this. They could use a man’s opinion after all.

"So we’re all in, what did you have in mind?" Elena asked.

—

Melinda pulled at her dress in an attempt to straighten the already strait material of her skirt. God she was nervous. She was way too old for all this dating crap. How the hell could she let Daisy talk her into this? She should have known something was up when Daisy came into the kitchen that morning with a wide grin plastered on her face.

_"Morning mum."_

_"Good morning, Dais." Daisy watched her mother prepare them breakfast with a wide grin on her face leaning against the wall. Melinda shot her a glance and she kept grinning. "Fine, what?" Melinda finally turned to her looking slightly annoyed._

_"What? Nothing! I’m just standing here." She tried her best to look like an angel and Melinda was_ sure _something was up._

_"You either did something or you’re going to do something. I’m your mother, I know that look."_

_To Daisy's credit she did look slightly abashed averting her gaze to inspect her shoes briefly before looking back up and beaming at her mum. "You have a date tonight."_

_"Excuse me?" Melinda raised her eyebrows looking unimpressed._

_"You’re meeting at Mecheche at seven. Dress nicely." For once Melinda was completely stunned,_ _staring speechlessly at her daughter unmoving. "Mum?" Daisy quipped suddenly a little scared. It was always dangerous when she got this quiet._

_"This is not a good prank, Daisy." Melinda’s voice was low in a warning._

_"It's not a prank. You need to get out more, find someone. I don’t want you to die alone."_

_"Cancel the evening or you’ll be grounded." Melinda ignored the part about dying._

_"But mum—!"_

_"No, Daisy. I don’t need you nor want you to mix in my love life."_

_"You don’t have a love life! You're alone! I just want you happy!"_

_"Daisy—"_

_“Mum, please. Besides, if you don’t like him, you don’t have to ever see him again. And I can still be grounded even if you go." She offered. She was willing to sacrifice a few days if it meant she’d reach her goal._

_Melinda sighed after a long while. "Fine, I’ll go. But you_ are _grounded."_

_Daisy grinned sheepishly despite the comment. Things were gonna work out perfectly she was certain._

Rationally, Melinda knew she was being ridiculous. Daisy swore it was none of her teachers nor any of her friends' and classmates' parents. Which, in retrospect, should have made her wary even more. _Who else could it be?_ If her daughter signed her up on one of those ridiculous online dating websites, she wouldn’t stick her nose out of her room until college. 

Melinda took a deep breath in attempt to calm her ever-growing nerves and followed the waiter through the restaurant to the end of the room. _Last chance to turn back and run,_ she thought but dismissed it quickly. 

She stopped in her tracks as she spotted the person sitting at the corner table fidgeting with his watch. Suddenly, all her nerves vanished and she was left with a warm feeling in her chest that seemed to have always appear when she was near Phil. He was wearing a dark blue suit she hasn’t seen before, probably newly bought for the sole purpose of this date, with no tie and the top two buttons of his shirt opened. _Did he know with whom he was meeting? Did Daisy really do this?_ She didn’t think much of her daughter’s attempts to force her to make a move in relationship with her best friend. O _kay, now you’re lying to even to yourself, Melinda._ Ever since Daisy brought it up a couple weeks ago, Melinda hasn’t had a day that the thought hasn’t popped up in her mind.

_"Mum?" Daisy asked at dinner when they were alone._

_"Hmm?"_

_"You like Phil right?"_

_"Of course I like him he's my best friend."_

_"No, I mean_ like _like him." Daisy rolled her eyes much like her mum used to do._

_"What do you mean?" Melinda narrowed her eyes at her daughter sensing trouble._

_"You flirt with him. A lot."_

_"No, I don’t."_

_"Yeah totally…" Daisy snorted. "For what is worth he likes you too," she added after a long pause._

"Mrs. May?" The waiter called after her which made Phil's head snap in her direction. His initial surprise quickly morphed into a happy smile. _So he didn’t know either._ She felt a slight pang in her chest that he agreed to meet up with a complete stranger but then again her daughter could be extremely persuasive and Melinda herself agreed too, so she wasn’t really in a position to judge. 

She finally snapped out of it and realised she was standing in the middle of a gangway and hindering the passage of a couple waiters with hands full of platers. Quickly she made her way towards the table only focusing on Phil who was still smiling at her, both of them completely ignoring the poor waiter who looked confused between them.

"I have to say I did not expect to see you here." Melinda said with relief as she sat down.

"Really?" Phil seemed genuinely surprised. "Who did you expect?"

"I don't know? One of Daisy's teachers?" Even though Daisy promised it was none of them Melinda saw the spark in her eye while saying it and was suspicious. "Did you know?"

"No." _Was he blushing?_ "She bugged me until I promised to come and meet 'someone I’d love'." He paused staring straight into Melinda’s eyes and she smiled at her daughter’s antics. "She wasn’t wrong." His look got too intense and made Melinda avert her gaze to her napkin and caused a blush to creep up her neck. She wasn’t used to Phil looking at her that way.

They both turned their attention to the waiter handing them menus and their conversation shifted to small talk ignoring the reason why they were both sitting in the restaurant in the first place. They didn’t return to it until late after leaving the restaurant on their way home walking side by side.

"I have to give it to Daisy, she did choose a great place for a first date," Phil started smiling.

"Oh so it was a date after all?"

"Wasn’t it?" Her comment seemed to throw him off a little until he turned to look at her to find her smirking.

"I don't know. Almost seemed like any other night we spend together. Just, you know, dressed up." She stopped to fully face him.

"Maybe you're right. There's still one thing left for me to do before we can call it a night," he grinned mischievously stepping in closer.

"And what would that be?" She tilted her head upwards to keep his gaze.

"This." She met him halfway when he leaned down to kiss her.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Please, show me your love (or non-hate) by leaving kudos or comments ^^


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